Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Jedidiah's Jerky is a brand of Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks, of Laughlin, NV. I've reviewed several of their jerky varieties over the past, read them all.

This "Old Fashion Style" is a new line of jerky to their portfolio of varieties, which also includes a Premium line, and a Private Reserve line.

My idea of Old Fashion Style beef jerky is something thick, dry, and chewy, with a simple recipe free of preservatives and automated machinery. Jedidiah's website says this is tenderized however, and goes on to say that this is how jerky was made, "back in the day".

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a smoky flavor, followed by a saltiness, which seems to progress into a soy sauce flavor. Some light black pepper flavor is noticeable.

The chewing flavor starts with a stronger saltiness, and a more defined soy sauce flavor, and a slighly increased black pepper flavor.

I'd say the dominant flavor of this jerky is the soy sauce along with its associated saltiness. It starts out as a saltiness, but quickly starts to define itself on the surface flavor. Once you get into the chewing, it really makes itself known as soy sauce.

The natural meat flavors in this are noticeable, but still light. But I think it's just enough that I can call it the second-strongest flavor. There's also a slighly oily flavor as well that comes through.

While black pepper is easily visible on these pieces, it only has a light flavor.

These are sliced of whole meat, sliced medium to thick thickness, and in small to medium sized pieces.

This is a dry jerky, with a mostly dry touch, but a little bit of oiliness. Tearing pieces apart with my fingers requires some effort, while chewing is quite chewy, and some pieces rather tough. However, I do find some pieces to be more easier to chew, but these are the exception.

The chewing texture starts out feeling hard and dry. Most pieces require a good deal of sucking and light biting before it starts to break apart. It takes several more chews until it finally gets down to a soft mass. And then at that point, it feels quite steak-like, though a touch crumbly. Some pieces break down much more quickly, but only a few.

From what I can see, there's no chunks or streaks of fat, and no gristle or tendon. However, several pieces leave behind small wads of unchewable tissue.

In terms of clean eating, it's somewhat clean. Just a faint trace of oil left behind on my finger tips. Though, the toughness in tearing pieces apart causes bits of black pepper to fly off on my lap and desk.

Snack Value

Jedidiah's Jerky sells this Old Fashion Style Original from their website at a price of $36.99 for one pound. Shipping is included in the price. That works out to a price of $2.31 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.31 price per ounce, this seems to provide a fair value. I'm getting an average amount of snackability for a satisfactory flavor, and a steak-like chewing texture, though I'm not really a big fan of tough jerky. That $2.31 price per ounce is considerably higher than the mass-market brands of jerky found in grocery stores, yet I think this jerky is comparable in flavor and consistency.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

This Old Fashion Style Original beef jerky from Jedidiah's Jerky seems to live up to the idea of how jerky could have been made a hundred years ago, dry, tough, and simple tasting. But it's not really "tender" as Jedidiah's website claims it is; at best I could only find a few pieces that were easier to chew compared to the rest of the pieces, but not necessarily tender.

For the most part, this jerky offers a soy sauce flavor, with a light natural meat flavor, and a light black pepper flavor. It's not exactly an interesting flavor, but then again, if it's meant to be "old fashion style", perhaps it lives up to its claim quite well and will satisfy those who are seeking such a jerky.

But for myself, I do get a fair amount of snackability, yet I'm finding it difficult to identify this as better than average. It's low flavor complexity, being mostly just soy sauce is my biggest "beef" with this. The dry tough chewing is one thing, but I can overlook that for a superior flavor.

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About Best Beef Jerky

I'm Steve Johnson, and I've been in the Internet marketing and publishing business since 1997. I've been a life-long fan of beef jerky and decided to merge my profession with my snack food of choice, and gave birth to Best Beef Jerky.

I review beef jerky, turkey jerky, bison jerky, pretty much any meat jerky, even vegan jerky. I review meat sticks, biltong, cecina, carne seca, it's all fair game as long as it's meat, it's dried, and it's a snack.